When I was about five months pregnant, I started having severe pain in my kidney. When I went to the hospital, I was in the waiting room for what it seemed like an eternity. I was in so much pain that I begged the nurse for a place to just lie down. After checking she said that there was no place to put me. To this day, that sticks in my mind. It turned out that my baby was so big that she was blocking one of my ureters causing my kidney to enlarge. I had to wear a nephrostomy tube for the remainder of my pregnancy. Needless to say, I save going to the ER for real emergencies.

When I was about five months pregnant, I started having severe pain in my kidney. When I went to the hospital, I was in the waiting room for what it seemed like an eternity. I was in so much pain that I begged the nurse for a place to just lie down. After checking she said that there was no place to put me. To this day, that sticks in my mind. It turned out that my baby was so big that she was blocking one of my ureters causing my kidney to enlarge. I had to wear a nephrostomy tube for the remainder of my pregnancy. Needless to say, I save going to the ER for real emergencies.

There are sooo many different types of emergencies!! Where I work - we have 5 er's: ob/gyn, psych, medicine, trauma, burn. This cuts down on the wait time. Also, we tell patients in triage that they are seen based on severity - not first come first serve.!!!

). What disgusted me was being in excruciating pain, and watching a kid with conjunctivitis (pink eye). Hearing the kid do an eye test while I was laying there disgusted me. Some of the ridiculous reasons people go in are worse when your a patient with an actual legit problem.

Of note, the pink eye kid, roughly 8 years old or so, obviously stable and the paranoid parent could/SHOULD have taken him to the local 'doc-in-the-box'/after hours care place.

Sounds like my experience last year. I was in the Peds ER with my 1 year old with a 105 degree fever that I could not get under control (had tried everything, Pediatrician told us to go to the ER). We were in the waiting room with a child who obviously had pink eye. Mom says "his eyes been like that for a week, I don't know what's wrong with 'em." Why she decided at 11pm on a Sunday night that it couldn't wait another second, I don't know.

WOW!! Here in Memphis, the paramedics/emts are no longer allowed to refuse transport. Apparantly, several years ago, they had refused transport for a seemingly non-emergent patient...and he died. Now, they have to bring any and everybody that calls for an ambulance. We've seen pts call an ambulance because they ran out of refills. Basically, some people use it because they have no other means of transportation.

ERslave...What I meant was, the PATIENT refuses...We have a form for them to sign, but, WE are not allowed to refuse services either. (WVa) Does have a protocol, I forget the number, that "allows" us to refuse, but leaves us open to lawsuites...(good ol' sharks, I mean lawers ). What we do now is...:roll load the patient in the "bus"...Start the IV and give the D-50 while enroute. That way (I know...that is cheating), we start care under "implied consent" and when they come around they are already loaded and on the way. BTW...We are a RURAL E.M.S. agency, our average transport time is 30-45 minutes.

Sometimes I really feel like one of those stupid people. We now have a $700 ER bill because I didn't know how serious my son's injury was. Just last month we were at a picnic. My son and another boy got into an argument and the other boy decided to settle it by cracking my son on the head with a metal broomstick. Ben (my son) came running to me, blood dripping down him. It was a head wound and there was just so much blood! We went to the ER where he ended up with 5 stitches! I didn't know it wasn't severe. If I had, I would have taken him to the pediatrician's office. They would most certainly have seen Ben and taken care of him with the same care that he was given in the ER (they were awesome, btw), and I would have been given a $70 bill instead of a $700 . We have no insurance, so we are working out a payment arrangement with the hospital. I just feel so stupid, though. I can't wait to get to the part in my nursing training where I can rationally decide what is and isn't an emergency. I saw the blood and freaked. I know you all are talking about some pretty silly reasons to end up in the ER, but I feel just awful about my own decision that landed us in this situation. Do a lot of people who just need a few stitches end up in the ER, or is just me? Ugh!

Sometimes I really feel like one of those stupid people. We now have a $700 ER bill because I didn't know how serious my son's injury was. Just last month we were at a picnic. My son and another boy got into an argument and the other boy decided to settle it by cracking my son on the head with a metal broomstick. Ben (my son) came running to me, blood dripping down him. It was a head wound and there was just so much blood! We went to the ER where he ended up with 5 stitches! I didn't know it wasn't severe. If I had, I would have taken him to the pediatrician's office. They would most certainly have seen Ben and taken care of him with the same care that he was given in the ER (they were awesome, btw), and I would have been given a $70 bill instead of a $700 . We have no insurance, so we are working out a payment arrangement with the hospital. I just feel so stupid, though. I can't wait to get to the part in my nursing training where I can rationally decide what is and isn't an emergency. I saw the blood and freaked. I know you all are talking about some pretty silly reasons to end up in the ER, but I feel just awful about my own decision that landed us in this situation. Do a lot of people who just need a few stitches end up in the ER, or is just me? Ugh!

Our ped sends facial (probably head wounds too) needing stitches to the ER anyway. So you probably would have ended up with two bills. The other kids mom needs to pay for part of the bill.